New Bitcoin Merchants: Beer Gardens, Dash Cams and More

New places accepting bitcoin: Beer Gardens, Dash Cams and More

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THON Org A-7 is a Penn State student philanthropy organization with more than 15,000 volunteers. The group is focused on curing cancer in children and is now accepting Bitcoin for donations as well as fiat currencies and volunteers.

THON has been partnered with The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Children’s Hospital since 1977 and the Fund is the sole beneficiary of THON’S fundraising efforts and has contributed more than US$89 million to the cause.

The Four Diamonds Fund was established by Charles and Irma Millard after the death of their 14 year old son Christopher after his three year long battles with cancer and its philosophy that a Knight must find the four diamonds of Courage, Wisdom, Honesty, and Strength in order to be freed from the clutches of the evil sorceress. Chris believed that these were the traits needed to beat cancer. The Executive Board said that a number of the A-7 alumni wanted to donate Bitcoin so they realized that they could crowdfund online and raise awareness.

The move came as somewhat of a surprise to Patrick Cines, President of the Penn State Bitcoin Club. Cines had previously approached THON about accepting Bitcoin but to no avail. The problem had been that Penn State had barred student organizations from collecting funds using off campus accounts and Penn State has yet to support cryptocurrencies. There have not been any reports on a policy change however, and this may still be a problem in the future. On the other hand if THON is successful it could encourage the university to follow their lead.

T-Shirts and More

ThatShirtWasCash was born from a Reddit post that was that was packed with photos of crazy shirt designs posted by anons on a 4Chan thread. The thread saw a tremendous amount of activity and everyone seemed to want to buy all of the shirts. So a survey was conducted and pulled in more than 2,200 responses, which is exceptional. The founders reached out to a local T-shirt manufacturer, filed for an LLC and launched their website.

ThatShirtWasCash, which allows customers to submit their own shirt designs, has received more than 15,000 up votes on Reddit so far. They are currently shipping to 15 countries, have more than 1,600 customers and US$70,000 worth of t-shirts. The shirts have printed fronts and white backs, photos on the website.

Point of Sale Technology

Walletec, a South African Point of Sale (PoS) has now integrated its services with the global Bitcoin payment service BitPay to help grow acceptance of cryptocurrencies in non-digital marketplaces. The company seeks to relieve customers and merchants alike of the onerous fees charged by credit card companies.

Now, because of this new partnership with BitPay, Walletec merchants will be able to accept Bitcoin from their customers along with fiat currencies and credit/debit cards. John Meyer, Walletec CEO says said:

“Wallettec’s mission is to become a single interface point between the PoS or payment solution and any mobile/e-wallet solution. Not only will merchants increase their bottom line profits by saving on credit card fees and commission.”

The platform also integrates with existing mobile applications, which will allow merchants to try new things, new promotions, and marketing techniques by allowing them to accept payments via mobile wallets. It seems that South Africa has been Bitcoin busy as of late. The nation’s most popular online payment solution, PayFast, recently partnered with BitX and South Africa’s largest online shopping site, Takealot has also begun accepting Bitcoin.

Online Marketplaces

Miraki co-founder, Adrien Nussenbaum, is not expecting a huge flood of Bitcoin business, but he understands that successful companies have to prepare for the future and in that spirit Miraki, a large online marketplace provider, will begin offering Bitcoin as a payment option on both their website and e-commerce channels.

Miraki works with some of the most well-known retailers in the world such as Darty, Galeries Lafayette and Woolworths. Nussenbaum said about the recent decision:

“I don’t expect our customers to have huge turnover from Bitcoin payments initially, but we want them to be ready for when consumers do embrace it. Although there is a perception of it being risky from a security perspective, Bitcoin is rich with potential and cannot be dismissed as a fad. “We want our customers, irrespective of their model or strategy, to anticipate market trends and not have to react to them. Consumers are completely comfortable buying from online marketplaces and will one day want to do so using Bitcoin – our customers will be ready for that.”

The Miraki platform was designed to help buyers and sellers interact seamlessly with the retailer’s brand and are very popular in the UK with more than 6 in 10 adults having made a purchase during the last 12 months. The company is counting not only on the rise of Bitcoin, but also on the increasing use of online marketplaces by consumers.

Dash Cams

The Dash Cam Store, an online seller of dash cameras is now accepting Bitcoin as a payment option. This merchant sells a wide variety of dashboard cameras at very reasonable prices. The company sells basic dash cams, dash cams with GPS, 1080p high def dash cams, miniature dash cams, and rear view style dash cams, along with a wide variety of accessories. Prices range from about US$150 to as high as US$400 and all cams come with a one-year warranty. The Dash Cam Store is located in Austin, Texas the company ships globally.

Beer, Beer and more Beer

The Pattaya Beer Garden is located in the Thai city of Pattaya in the Pier Beer Bars directly on the beach. The business does not accept reservations but rarely do they have to ask patrons to wait at the bar for a table. They have a varied five page menu with selections that range from breakfast to bear, pizza, burgers, pastas, Thai soups and curries, snacks, roasts, steaks, even vegetarian plates. They also feature more than 100 drink selections that range from beer (more than 20 types) to wines and soft drinks. Bitcoin is, of course, accepted and is one of the most preferred methods of payment by expats and tourists.

Entertainment

Recordshop X located in Finland is a chain of music related stores that sells records, books and films related to the music industry. The store located in Helsinki will now be accepting Bitcoin as a payment option.

The store is located right in Helsinki’s Metro Station and has only one clerk. The proprietor orders records and CDs from retailers and services all of the customers in only a 25 square meter shop. Meanwhile there is rarely a shortage of clients, some of which prefer to pay with BTC.